Administrative order for corona diagnosis test that separates only foreign workers is not allowed!

It was found that local governments, which segregated and separated only migrant workers and forced them to undergo a COVID-19 diagnostic test, withdrew the administrative order or changed the target to domestic and foreign nationals.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced on the 30th that 17 municipalities nationwide responded to a recommendation to stop discriminatory administrative orders against migrant workers.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea determined that it was a discriminatory measure against foreigners to segregate and separate migrant workers and force them to undergo a corona diagnosis test.

Accordingly, on March 22, 2021, the head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and regional government heads were advised to suspend the administrative order and to implement a non-discriminatory quarantine policy based on the principle of human rights.

At that time, migrant workers, related civic groups, and embassies of each country voiced high criticism of the administrative order as a discriminatory measure against foreigners. All executive orders were reviewed for human rights violations and policy improvement measures.

The Human Rights Commission said, “Measures to separate and classify a specific group without a reasonable reason may rather weaken the specific group’s active participation in the quarantine process. It was recommended that the discriminatory quarantine policy be changed, judging that there is a risk of jeopardizing the safety of the entire community by failing to achieve this,” he said.

In response to the recommendation of the Human Rights Committee, the local government that issued the administrative order changed the administrative order that had issued an administrative order to △withdraw or suspend the administrative order for migrant workers’ COVID-19 diagnostic test or △ to make the diagnostic test mandatory and to specify sanctions in case of non-compliance with an advisory measure △ changed the administrative order that was only for 'migrant workers' to 'foreigners in the same workplace', etc. Meanwhile, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters has not yet responded to the implementation plan.

Reporter Lee Jieun